NEW DELHI: A thick layer of fog blanketed the national capital and neighbouring areas on Wednesday morning as North India continued to reel under a cold wave.
Visibility was significantly reduced at airports across the region, disrupting flight services. At New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), 200 flights were delayed, and four were cancelled.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) seven-day forecast indicates that from Wednesday, the minimum temperature will start dipping, and by Friday, it is expected to drop to 5 degrees Celsius.
Anticipating dense to very dense fog conditions, the weather department issued an orange alert for Delhi on Wednesday and a yellow alert for Thursday and Friday.
In the past 24 hours, the maximum temperature in Delhi was recorded at 16.2, which is 2.8 degrees below normal, and the minimum temperature was 7.4, which was 5 degrees above normal.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Airport, already reeling under fog, will see further disruption starting January 19 as a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) has been issued for closure of airspace over Delhi from 10:20 am to 12:45 pm from January 19 to 26. This is for practice, dress rehearsal and the actual Republic Day parade, an annual celebration that includes a parade, flypast and display of culture and military hardware along Kartavya Path.
The closure will start on January 19 and will remain enforced till Republic Day.
The impact is not restricted to domestic flights, with the schedule showing an effect on flights from Toronto, Washington, and Colombo, among others.